Steam Have Updated TOS To Stop Class-Action Lawsuits

[Cartmanuk]

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When was the last time you actually read a Terms of service agreement, well if your like me you just ticked the little box and agree to it.

Company's like Valve who run Steam are taking advantage of this fact and are protecting themselves from the threat of consumers bringing class-action lawsuits against them by making every consumer go through small claims courts to try and discourage the consumer from making a
claim.

 

[nukeboy95]

lol when it open on my steam i had no wifi soo i just had a error

 

[Wizerzak]

TBH this doesn't affect me at all, but from what I gathered in an article a few days ago this is only there to protect Valve from ridiculous lawsuits and most other companies have already taken similar precautions a while back.

Also, you spelt Steam wrong.

 

[Snailface]

To be honest, Valve is one of the few companies you can trust to fix things if they are wrong, or not to do wrong things in the first place. I think this amendment to their eula is more for frivolous lawsuits than anything.

 

[MelodieOctavia]

TBH this doesn't affect me at all, but from what I gathered in an article a few days ago this is only there to protect Valve from ridiculous lawsuits and most other companies have already taken similar precautions a while back.

Also, you spelt Steam wrong.

There's a difference between protecting yourself from frivolous lawsuits and taking away the only legal avenue the average consumer has against a multi-billion dollar company.

 

[Cartmanuk]

Also, you spelt Steam wrong.

I spotted it but can't change it

 

[MelodieOctavia]

Also, you spelt Steam wrong.

I spotted it but can't change it

Fixed it for ya

 

[AlanJohn]

Yeah, I've read it. I actually took my spare time, printed it out, sat on my chair, turned myself some smooth jazz and read it. It's quite interesting how they still claim that you cannot trade your games, and everything that you can trade is not actually yours.

 

[Shuny]

Well, I believe this falls into the "abusive clause" (I don't know if it has a translation in english) category. In Europe, and in many countries, it is forbidden to put something like that in a contract.

So it won't be a problem. Lame attempt at blocking legal actions.

 

[Jamstruth]

When was the last time you actually read a Terms of service agreement, well if your like me you just ticked the little box and agree to it.

Looking at that screenshot you gave they've made it pretty obvious. They probably weren't under any obligation to point out the clause in the header of the agreement.
I heard about this before I agreed to it. Its unlikely I'll need to class action Valve. Even if I do I'm in the EU so its not problem for me. This will be a lawyer recommendation to Valve though since every other company is doing this right now. It'll be banned by even the USA in due course (I hope)

 

[Wizerzak]

TBH this doesn't affect me at all, but from what I gathered in an article a few days ago this is only there to protect Valve from ridiculous lawsuits and most other companies have already taken similar precautions a while back.

Also, you spelt Steam wrong.

There's a difference between protecting yourself from frivolous lawsuits and taking away the only legal avenue the average consumer has against a multi-billion dollar company.

IIRC, I might be wrong, but from what I remember this still allows user to take legal action against the company, but just not to extremes (as many cases have), now they can only sue them a fair, reasonable amount, not $50000000000000000.

 

[Wizerzak]

Ah yes, here it is. Sums it up quite well. I don't believe Valve is doing anything wrong here and, as Snailface said, this is the last company I would expect not to fix any wrongdoings.

Edit: Damn, what's the actual requirements for your posts to merge? It seem pretty random to me.

 

[gloweyjoey]

This is essentially just to stop the frivolous lawsuits put on by legal departments where the attorneys get big fat hundred thousand dollar paychecks while all the people who opted to be part of class action lawsuit get they're winnings split between all of them so they're lucky to even end up with ten dollars.

 

[Janthran]

Who was it that added "You agree to sell us your soul" in their TOS?

 

[raulpica]

The old EULA actually said: "YOU ACKNOWLEDGE AND AGREE THAT YOUR SOLE AND EXCLUSIVE REMEDY FOR ANY DISPUTE WITH VALVE WITH REGARD TO STEAM OR THE SOFTWARE IS TO DISCONTINUE USE OF STEAM AND CANCEL YOUR ACCOUNT" - and everybody signed up for that without a hitch.

New EULA is:
"You can try binding arbitration, which Valve will pay for.
You can try bringing claims of copyright infringement of theft in normal courts of law.
You can try bringing your matter to the attention of government agencies.
You can't seek class action.
You can seek remedy in the small claims court."

It's a HUGE step-up. Valve might look evil by stopping you from doing a class-action, but just look at the other companies (*cough*Sony*cough*) and you'll notice that they at least give you some other methods to seek compensation.

BTW, here's Valve reasoning for doing this:

“It’s clear to us that in some situations, class actions have real benefits to customers. In far too many cases however, class actions don’t provide any real benefit to users and instead impose unnecessary expense and delay, and are often designed to benefit the class action lawyers who craft and litigate these claims. Class actions like these do not benefit us or our communities. We think this new dispute resolution process is faster and better for you and Valve while avoiding unnecessary costs, and that it will therefore benefit the community as a whole.”

Makes sense. I mean, they instead offer to pay for arbitration expenses even if you win or lose. That's mighty good.

 

[Deleted_171835]

Canadian tempers should be happy that this doesn't apply in Canada. Go Canada!?

http://www.hardwarecanucks.com/news/valves-mandatory-binding-arbitration-clause-not-valid-in-canada/

 

[Gahars]

Valve isn't the first company to do this, and believe me, it won't be the last.

 

[DSGamer64]

TBH this doesn't affect me at all, but from what I gathered in an article a few days ago this is only there to protect Valve from ridiculous lawsuits and most other companies have already taken similar precautions a while back.

Also, you spelt Steam wrong.

There's a difference between protecting yourself from frivolous lawsuits and taking away the only legal avenue the average consumer has against a multi-billion dollar company.

It's also within a companies legal rights to set up boundaries. This TOS update only stops class action law suits, where one large group of people would target the company for money in a court of law for whatever reason. I don't think it means you can't sue Valve, however you can't file a class action lawsuit against them.

 

[Guild McCommunist]

Aw man, I was planning to start a class-action lawsuit against Steam sometime soon.

Like really, I don't think anyone complaining about this would be suing Steam anytime soon anyway.

 

[BORTZ]

Aw man, I was planning to start a class-action lawsuit against Steam sometime soon.

Like really, I don't think anyone complaining about this would be suing Steam anytime soon anyway.

yeah i mean with all of the great games and having dirt cheap sales all the time, i wonder why this is even an issue.